Astros coach Alex Cintrn still chirps at umps, but health scare has calmed him

April 14, 2024

TORONTO — Alex Cintrón chirps. If a checked swing or called strike seems questionable, his is the first voice heard from inside the Astros’ dugout. Players appreciate his approach, even if umpires sometimes do not. Cintrón’s been ejected four times since 2019 — a byproduct of his brash style and big-league pedigree. Cintrón took 2,217 plate appearances across nine major-league seasons, allowing him to empathize with any hitter who feels wronged.

“He’s played before, he understands what we’re going through, where we’re coming from and he’s just a smart baseball man. You always want to gravitate towards dudes like that, learn the game through their eyes as well,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said. “We all have each other’s backs here. You want coaches that care and he cares about his players.”

Peña can provide proof. During a May 30 game against the Twins, veteran umpire Jerry Layne got face-to-face with him after the stoic shortstop politely questioned a first-pitch strike call. Peña did not engage with Layne and showed remarkable restraint. Those in the dugout did not.

A handful of Houston’s coaches, including Cintrón, chided the umpire. Layne ejected Cintrón, perhaps partially due to his past actions and arguments. Most outside of Houston remember Cintrón as the coach who incurred a 20-game suspension after Ramón Laureano charged him in a benches-clearing melee during the 2020 season.

Yet if he’s earned a reputation in the sport, Cintrón is trying to reverse it for reasons far more meaningful than any game.

“I didn’t like that. I thought it was unprofessional (from Layne). But besides that, I’ve been really calm. I’m not yelling like I used to,” Cintrón said this week. “That’s a lot of stress here, a lot of pressure when the hitters aren’t doing good, but I just like to do my work with no stress about it.”

Stress, unfortunately, may have helped send the 44-year-old Cintrón into a state he didn’t think he’d survive. This winter, Cintrón began having what he called “heart episodes” while managing the Cangrejeros de Santurce in the Puerto Rican Winter League. He already felt weary after the Astros’ lengthy postseason run and subsequent World Series celebrations. Cintrón quit his managerial job after 18 games to prioritize his health. The team announced his departure on Nov. 25.

Ten days later, on Dec. 5, Cintrón awoke in the middle of the night. He could not control his heart rate and his blood pressure rose to dangerous levels. Cintrón said he felt like his heart would “beat out of his chest.” His Houston home is five minutes away from an emergency room, a luxury Cintrón did not have in Puerto Rico, where he was originally supposed to be during the winter.

“If I was in Puerto Rico, I wouldn’t be here,” Cintrón said. “I was lucky enough that I was five minutes away from the ER … I was able to drive myself at like two in the morning.”

Cintrón said doctors gave him morphine to lower his blood pressure and heart rate. They diagnosed him with atrial fibrillation, which the Mayo Clinic defines as an “irregular and often very rapid heart rhythm that can lead to blood clots in the heart.” A cardiologist informed Cintrón he needed heart ablation surgery, a procedure that scars some heart tissue to correct irregular rhythms or heartbeats.

“The doctors said it was going to be easy, but then I was in there for more than four hours because they found other things,” Cintrón said. “They told me I was lucky to not have a stroke or heart attack because of the way my heart was looking and the episode I had. That happened to me and it kind of changed my life. I could have died.”

Cintrón missed the first two weeks of spring training while recovering from the February surgery. He arrived at camp noticeably thinner — he’s lost around 15 pounds throughout the ordeal — and armed with a new perspective.

“I wake up and say ‘Thank God I’m alive,’” Cintrón said. “Just go to the ballpark and have fun. For me, at work, I have fun with the guys, have good relationships with them and I’m free to be myself with the coaches, Dusty. Just enjoy it. Mentality-wise, I’m at peace. I’m happy.”

Throughout the winter, Cintrón kept Astros players abreast of his condition in their group chat. Well-wishes and prayers flooded in. Astros manager Dusty Baker had atrial fibrillation in Sept. 2012 while managing the Cincinnati Reds. Baker, according to Cintrón, “guided me” toward some lifestyle changes that could improve his heart health.

Cintrón during his playing days, with the Arizona Diamondbacks. (Danny Moloshok / Getty Images)

Cintrón has cut down his alcohol consumption, is eating better, drinking more water and is on a regimented sleep schedule.

“I’ve changed a lot. I have the mentality to live day by day, take care of my family, my job and everything. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I know a lot of people always think about it, but when you go through it – and you’re close to death — it enters your head that life is so short. Just enjoy and live it the best way you can.”

His work ethic has not diminished, nor has his way of working through slumps or struggles with Houston’s hitters.

“Being in the league and knowing every situation we go through, he’s been through,” utilityman Mauricio Dubón said. “What we’re kind of thinking, he understands what’s going on. I think that’s an advantage. He knows the experience and he takes advantage of that and we take advantage of that.”

Publicly, Cintrón is just like his fellow hitting coaches: a lightning rod for criticism when underperformance arrives. It is certainly here for an Astros lineup that exited Sunday’s 5-0 loss against the Guardians with a .710 OPS and .314 on-base percentage. An avalanche of injuries and some questionable lineup decisions have the group searching for consistency. Cintrón is not one to project worry.

“If something isn’t going the right way, he knows OK, this is going on,” Dubon said. “He doesn’t try to put too much information at you because this game is hard enough. He just knows and talks. The human side of him comes out and I think that’s the best quality you can have as a coach, having a human side in baseball. I think sometimes in baseball, that has been lost, the human side of it. He has it, and I think that’s why everybody likes him.”

Cintrón receives praise throughout the clubhouse for his in-game feel and for helping hitters adjust mid-game after one time through the batting order. He interviewed twice this winter for the Toronto Blue Jays bench coach job before serving in the same capacity for Team Puerto Rico during the World Baseball Classic.

“He is extremely intelligent with analyzing the game as the game is going on. He is very intelligent in foreshadowing where the game is going,” Peña said. “You kind of just listen to him and I’m always like, hey, if it helps it helps, but it doesn’t hurt to listen. Sometimes you don’t use it, sometimes you do, but it’s better to know it than to not.”

Peña is the most recent recipient of Cintrón’s public backing. To reciprocate, the team paid Cintrón’s fine for his ejection in that May 30 game. If it is up to Cintrón, it could be his last punishment. Others aren’t so sure.

“He’ll still get tossed,” Dubón said with a smile. “But he’s more appreciative of stuff. He jokes around more with us. The side of the life that he had before, he’s enjoying it more. He’s not going through the motions every day he comes out here. He’s actually enjoying it, so I’m happy to see that.”

(Top photo: Kevin M. Cox / Associated Press)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k29namxjaHxzfJFsZmluX2Z%2FcK3Sramoq12WuabEjJygp6yipLtur8eiqamrXaq6sb%2BO